2 days ago
Suffolk Construction will soon get more revenue from New York projects than Boston
'By far, this is the most complicated historic building the company has done in its history,' Fish says. 'It's almost like the Great Gatsby days, that's what it reminds me of. ... You literally would think you're back in the '30s if you walked in the ballroom today.'
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A rendering of 'The Torch,' a hotel tower that Suffolk Construction is building in Midtown Manhattan.
Illustration courtesy of ODA and SLCE Architects
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One mile to the west, a very different looking hotel will rise over the Theatre District. Suffolk is working with developer Extell there to put up an 825-room 'supertall' hotel. What makes the building unique isn't the height — though it will approach nearly 1,100 feet, or 52 stories. It's the spiraled X-like shape of the building, inspired to some extent by the torch held by the Statue of Liberty, thus earning the 'Torch' nickname. (Plus there will be a 'drop ride' stretching along the tower's spine.)
Fish considers it to be one of Suffolk's one-of-a-kind structures, like the tower the company built for the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Fort Lauderdale that's shaped like a giant guitar.
Fish expects to generate $2.2 billion in revenue out of Suffolk's Boston projects this year, out of $8.5 billion in total, and a similar amount next year. But the revenue coming from New York will soon surpass those levels. Fish credits his team there, led by Ralph Esposito, whom Fish recruited from LendLease in 2020, three years after Suffolk entered the city.
Besides, everything in New York seems to be supersized in some way.
'New York will eclipse Boston in the next 18 months [for Suffolk],' Fish said. 'It's a much larger market, [and] the size of the projects are much greater than they are in any other part of the country.'
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston's business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at
